I have torn down my Denim Blue Avant 3.0 Quattro Sport.
I initially felt a bit bad, as it was a clean car -
on the surface.
As the teardown progressed, I was glad I had decided to use a new B7 as my base car. Plastic skirts / sill covers are nice, but they can hide a multitude of sins. The same goes for the wheel arch liners - especially the ones made of felt. Why Audi chose to fit porous, moisture-retaining liners beats me. The B5’s were all plastic.
OEM mudflaps are also a bad idea.
This is what I found under the plastic sill covers, not to be confused with the Votex skirts. The plastic sill covers are the OEM visible parts on non-Votex or USP / S-Line models. Ignore the rusty left hand fender, it was just thrown on, as I delivered the original rust-free item to a buyer, then slapped hers on so I could drive the car home.
Badly corroded pinch welds and rocker panel, front right hand side:
Corroded pinch welds and rocker panel, front left hand side:
Badly corroded pinch welds, and rocker panel, rear left hand side:
Badly corroded front right hand side fender, where the liner meets the metal, when wet and mixed with road grit:
